It seems that the fantastic looking PS3 version of Ni no Kuni hasn’t done particularly well in Japan, selling only 40% of its retail stock, with first week sales of about 65,000 units. It wasn’t the only game to suffer, with One Piece Gigant Battle 2 selling 45% of its stock. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 fared much better, however, selling 179,000 units on PS3 alone.
There’s a lot of excitement for Ni no Kuni here at TSA, and next year can’t come fast enough.
Source: Andriasang
Youles
Any idea what the Japan reviews were like?
IAmJacksMedullaOblongata
Famitsu gave it 38/40.
http://www.google.com
;)
Youles
Thanks! Guess it’s not down to review scores then, maybe just due to the market if other games have suffered too!
rept0n
Not saying you’re wrong… but there is a Famitsu 38/40 review for the DS game. The Famitsu review for the PS3 version seems to be 36/40 (from a little more trawling):
http://gamingeverything.com/11666/famitsu-review-scores-118-ni-no-kuni-ps3-ultimate-marvel-vs-capcom-3-more/
IAmJacksMedullaOblongata
I’m probably wrong. I didn’t spend too much time looking. My point was that most questions posed on internet messageboards can be solved by the googling.
:)
aerobes
I’d have thought they would’ve been much more excited about it. Impressive number from CoD considering I wouldn’t have imagined it to be their sort of thing at all. Still, I’m really excited about Ni No Kuni personally.
DJ Judas
The Japanese are famously individual, but there’s also a large following culture of loving all things western among some younger generations. Even if it’s not that, the games popularity in Europe and the states alone will give it a reputation that will naturally spawn curiosity.
It could of course just be that it’s a decent game.
OriginalJonty (Aran Suddi)
Definitely one of my anticipated games for next year.
hazelam
that’s a shame, the game looks amazing.
Level5 have made some of my favourite rpgs over the years and and i just love Studio Ghibli.
so for me this is almost as big a deal as Square and Disney making a game together.
i can’t wait to get my hands on the game.
MayContainEvil
“almost as big a deal as Square and Disney making a game together”
So I’m guessing you loved Kingdom Hearts then?
These sales really are a shame, what I can’t get a grasp on is why they’re so low – this is a Studio Ghibli branded product were talking about here. The economy cannot be that bad over there.
moshi
Maybe it was just to normal for those wacky Japanese . On a serious note would the poor sales affect the European release.
teflon
The next Ico? A cult hit, perhaps?
Who cares, I’m buying it when it comes out over here.
bacon_nuts
Was about to say… Sadly, sales don’t always correlate with quality.
KeRaSh
Does this have anything to do with the absurdly high retail price?
“a standard PlayStation 3 copy of the game will set you back ¥8,800, which converts roughly into £70 and this is without “special edition” gubbins”
I know I wouldn’t buy this game at this price. I’d really like to play this but I would wait until the price drops.
mugsybalone
Totally agree. Surely the publishers must have considered the retail price as a barrier to sales? If it’s going to have an equivalent price tag when it hits Europe, then it’s not going to be a big seller. Especially considering that in Japan, sales have a “consumption tax” of 5% on the value of the item, which would be replaced by VAT/TVA/MwSt in the EU – so I would expect that £70 to be more like £84 on the shelves.
MayContainEvil
The prices are never equivalent, everything entertainment related (physical goods at least) generally costs a lot more in japan. Sometimes an order of magnitude more, their prices for anime in particular are absolutely ridiculous, $500 for a single show’s blu-ray set, anyone?
KeRaSh
Even if you don’t convert the price. Compared to other games it must be pretty steep otherwise there wouldn’t be any news about it, right?
aerobes
Ooh, I’d forgotten about that. Greedy slags.
Sitorimon
That’s a shame, although all my favourite games this gen have flopped so I take that as a good omen for me personally :\
Nocure-fd
This and Last Guardian are my most anticipated games for next year. Shame sales figures are not so good, but I will climb over small childern and old ladies for this game. I guess the upside is I may not have to…
Kaminari
It’s definitely not Ico stuff.
Under the coat of the gorgeous Ghibli artwork is a decent JRPG in the vein of Rogue Galaxy (not a bad thing IMO), but nothing revolutionary for certain.